The Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, has assured Ghanaians that before the end of 2023, the majority of Ghanaians will have access to free internet.
She made the announcement as she delivered her keynote address to climax the National Girls in ICT programme, on the Techiman Campus of the Valley View University in the Bono East Region.
She said, “the quest of the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation to develop community ICT centres and cell sites across the country, will ensure that most Ghanaians will have access to mobile networks.”
“According to research, there are about 3.5 million Ghanaians without mobile connectivity. By the end of next year, this group of people will heave a sigh of relief”.
In view of this, the minister also said two thousand centres and sites are presently being established across the country to make this a reality.
“We have made it our focus to construct ICT centres and rural telephony sites across the country to aid in the teaching and learning of ICT courses for our girls and the youth in general. This will provide an opportunity for girls and young women in the country to gain knowledge and exposure to technology. As previously mentioned, the theme for this year is, ‘Access and Safety’. ”
“To address the access issue in Ghana, the Ministry through GIFEC, is implementing our Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project, which forecasts the construction of more than two thousand sites for connectivity nationwide. Since 2020, over seven hundred sites have already been built and many communities have been connected. By the end of next year, all sites would have been completed,” she concluded.
